postcard mailer - back to school

Truthfully, I was never a big fan of school.  

The feeling I wanted to capture with this image is that uncertainty a child might feel at the beginning of a new school year.  The image started out larger, with more background around her--but I realized that in the scope of our postcard, she would've been lost, too tiny to really see.  I zoomed in on her so that she was more legible.  I didn't want to lose the surrounding atmosphere, but sometimes, you have to.  I wanted to show the hard lines, and the very vertical world of a school hallway--those things that could feel daunting to such a small person.

Here are some sketches of my schoolgirl in various stages:

Not a huge difference between the 2nd and final sketches, (of the few that didn't hit the wastebasket) just small refinements.

Postcard Mailer - Back to School

The ol' school bus again, either we all have very fond memories of the bus or it was a source of daily torture.

I wanted to tell a story about a girl who was a little too much trouble and boy who wasn't looking to make waves. Maybe the frog ends up in his backpack. Maybe it escapes said backpack during class. Maybe wave-avoiding boy ends up in the principle's office. Who knows how we get talked into these kinds of adventures!
Can you tell my kids go to public school? I had to go with school uniforms in honor of all the poor babes who sport the khaki and blue five days a week!

Postcard Mailer- back to school

After we agreed on the "back to school" theme, I began thinking on school scenes and school related situations. A few minutes later, this image popped in my head.

Who doesn't immediately think of a row of bunnies on their way to their first day of school, right? And If you look closely at mama bunny, you'll see why I think I'm projecting a bit ;o)

I also pictured this image as a spread on a book so I thought of adding this text:

One by one they waved good-bye

back to school is always fun!

but then I realized, that even though our postcard is oversized, it wouldn't read well. So I decided not to include the text.

So here they are, from right to left:

Sporty Bobby, Sleepy Bella, shy Ryan, big sis Lucy, baby Timmy and of course Mom and Dad.

postcard mailer - back to school

New school year, new lunch box, new friends, and ** heaven** a new box of crayons. This year I had the pleasure of illustrating "Oh My! Ginny Fry! First Grade Trouble" by Gina Shaw, for Scholastic Book Club. The book jacket reads:

First there's a mix-up about her name and then Ginny gets the job of taking care of the class parrot, Rocky. Ginny doesn't like birds.

First grade is not going well. Boo for her.

But then Ginny meets Spike, a friend who understands about her name and doesn't like his plant monitor job. BOR-ING.

Ginny comes up with a solution for both of them, but will it mean trouble?

The book comes out this fall, available through the Scholastic Book Club. I used to LOVE those Book Club fliers. I'd pour over them trying to decide which book to pick. Then, I'd go lean on my little brother, who wasn't really into books, and persuade him to pick a book that I liked too. Wasn't I a sweet sister? Don't answer that, hee hee.

The sketches below show my initial pencil-first-thoughts-rough and my final sketch, done in Painter.

Postcard Art - Back To School!

Here is my "Back To School" postcard art! On the way home from school, two friends try to catch swirling, gusty wind-blown leaves! It definitely makes me feel the "fall"-y, and almost makes me want to hop aboard a yellow school bus, too!

Here is the sketch insiration for the final art. I enjoyed doing the back, as well. (Look at the cute little backpacks and tails on these guys!) Hope you enjoy!

back to school

My illustration started with a simple doodle in my notebook last year, waiting to be developed into a felt illustration. He sat there forgotten until I began experimenting with digital felt in the new year. One day, I was playing with frayed fabric (digitally) and was so happy with how it turned out that I wanted to use it in an illustration.


And this was the result...

I dug out my little whale doodle and the wheels began to turn. I had so much fun creating this digitally and would love to do an entire ABC book like this.

* illustration created with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop*

Back to School

Were you one of the kids on the bus? Even though I went to private school, I didn't miss out on riding the school bus and all it's ups and downs - an altogether different learning experience! I'm also sharing my rough initial concept sketches for 'Back to School' - I still like the idea of doing a lunch swap illustration at some point, and also the 'right off the bus' reunion.

Postcard Mailer- Back To School

I am so pleased to share our postcard mailer with you. Kathy took on the task of designing it for us and what a wonderful job she did. Thanks, Kathy!
Due to the time of year, we decided to go with "back to school" as our theme. Fun!
We'll post our individual pieces with a little back story each day this week.